Seeing Clearly
by ClampLover
Summary: Eight Cooper Ancestors that shipped Carmelia and Sly, or, where the reunited Cooper Gang tries, and fails, to give an honest, unbiased depiction of what went on while they played in history. Semi-Spoilers for upcoming game.


**Title: Seeing Clearly  
**

**Warnings:** Spoilers for Sly series and generalizations/headcanons about what will possibly happen in this upcoming game. I also have no idea how to rate this; for now I'm sticking with T until I check to see if I didn't swear that badly.

_**Notes: Dear readers, hello and welcome to yet another story of mine. Someone should stop me. Especially for this one. But it's a one-shot so only minimal guilt in not finishing another of my continuing stories. But this might be my longest one shot in a long time, so yay. Title comes from altered lyrics in So Long, Goodbye and it makes sense when its the ancestors shipping.  
**_

So, _**SPOILERS**_ for upcoming game (Detailed in end notes if trying to avoid exact details).

_**Disclaimer:** God, do I not own. At all. Credit to Sucker Punch, Sanzaru Games, and anyone else involved.  
_

_**Summary:** _Eight Cooper Ancestors that shipped Carmelia and Sly, or, where the reunited Cooper Gang tries, and fails, to give an honest, unbiased depiction of what went on in history.

* * *

**Introduction/Rioichi Cooper  
**

Sly, in hindsight, can claim that it all started with Rioichi, but, in his defense, Rioichi was slightly odd and enigmatic to begin with, so Sly should not be at fault for being clueless.

(_Hopefully, Bentley will also see it that way and **STOP** telling the story of how ignorant Sly had been about the entire thing… _

_"You have no idea how dim he was when we were going through time. Every single relative figured out, in five minutes, what has taken him five years. Starting with Rioichi, and he never even spoke to her! I don't even think we told him her name!" …to Penelope, who sympathetically pats her boyfriend on the shoulders while shrugging her own in Sly's direction._

_Sly, because he is a better man, does not pointedly remind Bentley that it his not his story to tell, because it would be both a bald faced lie and futile. The current state of affairs with Carmelita is the only potentially futile thing Sly will be investing in, thank you very much._)

But back to Rioichi.

...

They've taken up to fiddling with mementos, reminders that they've separated and managed to find new lives without the others. Bentley keeps a picture of Penelope on his binocucom, but it's the flower pendant from her first RC car that he attaches to his own wheelchair. Murray has his key chains, of the Guru and the van, with tiny numbers inscribed on the side that proudly showcase an unbeaten record with him behind the wheel. And Sly has his own picture hanging in the van, but his token, for lack of a better word, is shiny and silver, the key to their penthouse, constantly tossed up and down in the air when not in his red pouch.

Luckily, Rioichi has no such distractions, even though he is, most likely, silently despairing of their situations (and honestly, Sly feels he'd be despairing of them if not for the fact he was the one who had to be rescued and automatically clued into the fact that Sly was his family, however distant).

_ "Despairing of us? You mean you. Murray and I did our jobs fine. Right?"_

_"Sure?"_

_"And who was the one who acted like a dazed fan meeting his hero? Not us." _

_"You did do that, buddy."_

_"Guys! Telling a story here. And Rioichi is a Cooper hero!"_

_"So you rescued the relative I didn't meet and then what Ringtail?"  
_

_"Thank you, Carm."  
_

The key is snatched away in mid-air by Rioichi, whose nose twitches in either confusion or distaste before his expression schools itself into blankness.

When he doesn't say anything, Sly offers up, "It's a memory of my home."

"Ah. Home of the future. And?"

"And what?"

Rioichi sighs, and Sly knows that he's mourning the fact his easy comprehension of situations is seemingly going to die with him, "What is your home made of. Or of whom?"

"No one. Not anymore." Not since he threw himself off a rooftop to the soundtrack of her threats and shock pistol ricocheting off the walls. "I messed up."

Another sigh. "So fix it. You're a Cooper."

"That's the problem. It's her job to chase Coopers." At Rioichi's raised eyebrow, he continues with, "She works in law enforcement."

Rioichi's looks speaks volumes, but Sly ignores it to add on, "I tried to leave...this," and there are impressive hand gestures to accompany him, "but it didn't work out."

The key is briefly examined before Rioichi shakes his head and hands it back to Sly. "You'll one day be in a cage of your own making, with age bringing this life to an end. Fix it, leave on your own terms with the person you love."

The comments follow with a dark look of his own, fingers pressed lightly against his knives, where a name that isn't his is carved onto the hilt. Sly doesn't have a chance to reply before Rioichi disappears, as silently as he came._  
_

_"Shame I missed out on the chance to meet the good one."  
_

_"Yes, because you already have the best one."  
_

_"Ha!"  
_

_"Bentley, you traitor."  
_

_"So, which relative did Carmelita meet with you guys?"  
_

_"An excellent question, my dear Penelope..."  
_

* * *

**"Tennessee Kid" Cooper**

Tennessee Kid adores her. Which should not surprise Sly as much as it does, but again, hindsight. The way he shows his affections is more puzzling, however. Honestly, it's starting to frighten not just Sly, but Bentley, Murray, and TK's own friend, a zebra named Jesse.

It being the shooting. Oh the shooting.

Carmelita is deadly with any type of weapon, but she and Tennessee have shamelessly spent hours (when not on missions) shooting countless targets, secure in the abandoned alleys near TK's safe house, with no one around to stop them or even acknowledge the destruction.

That might be why TK's safe house is in this particular neighborhood.

TK calls her "Darlin" with a slight twang, and Carmelita always did like accents, so he gets away with it. (In a different situation, there would be a shock pistol pointed at Sly. He _knows_ this.)

TK also gives Sly odd looks in relation to Carmelita, or rather, her lack of acknowledging him, seeming to agree the blame must lie with him for whatever makes the atmosphere feel grating. And the old saying of blood being thicker than water is not proving true in this case, because TK very easily chooses her over him.

_"Yes, because two days of knowing your relative from the future is in fact your relative is a great reason to pick him over the girl who both knew him longer and spent more time with him."_

_"Touche."_

Two days earlier, that shock pistol had destroyed the samurai sword in his hand, precious inches from his face. Carmelita hasn't spoken to him since. Her words are for TK, for thoughtful questions about the plan that impresses Bentley, as much as he would rather die before admit it, and even Murray or Jesse.

But not him. (It's not something everyone picks up on, but Bentley sends him a commiserating look in his darker moments while TK seems delighted with the entire process. Hardened criminal and eager matchmaker all in one.)

Sly is more than prepared to give her time, as long as she's still around to be bothered by him, yet her silence is distracting, new, something he has never had to face down. Even when they argued, about curtains, about visiting her mother, about cases, she was loudloudloud, voice bouncing off the walls and fiery temper noticeable in every syllable.

That might be her point however, punish him by taking away the person he loves most, like he stole himself away from her.

He tries to talk to her, before the final mission, before they leave TK behind to chase down the next Ghost of Cooper past, and her voice is quiet and near-emotionless when she says, "I _hate_ you so much right now."

_"My feelings haven't changed."_

_"I love you too."_

Her eloquence has been taken by him too.

They pummel the villain of the day, with minimal explosions, to Jesse's delight and TK's eternal chagrin. The only one damaged is Sly, body slammed into a wall and dazed until a sharply barked, "Ringtail! Up! NOW!" had him throwing himself to his feet and surrounded by concerned gazes, except for TK, who looked between Sly and Carmelita a few times with an obnoxious grin on his face that disappeared only when he started laughing. If they had been closer together, and TK had worse control over himself, he might have forced them into a group hug.

That same good humor lasts till the farewells, when TK, with a look on his face that does not bode well for Carmelita, announces to the group that he would be honored if the first Cooper-Fox kid was named after him.

Carmelita looks ready to beat TK senseless, but Sly is too intrigued by this announcement to let harm befall TK and wants to know just what exactly the two have them have been talking about during the shootouts. (Bentley, Murray, and Jesse vary from expressions of horror, confusion, and resigned shame.)

Carmelita takes one look at his face before she hisses, "Hush," at him, pulling him in the direction of the van and away from TK, who has quickly become his favorite family member.

_"I-"_

_"Shock Pistol."_

_"But-"_

_"Woah, that's a scary look."_

_"Right you are Murray. So, who did you see next?"_

_"Excellent segue, Penelope."_

* * *

**Salim al Kupar**

Salim is probably the least excited to see the motley crew of them, with one noticeable exception. He and his new best friend spend their time successfully completing missions and finding new ways to loudly despair of everyone else in the Safe House.

"I was about to retire. And then this comes," Salim complains, gesturing, not kindly, to Sly and Bentley. (Most relatives didn't blame Murray until the property damage starts, which, considering he'll be back out from the field within the hour, should be soon.)

Carmelita nods her head in long-suffering agreement, "Try living with him. The ring-tailed one." If there wasn't a mission at hand, they'd probably enjoy mocking them over drinks.

Salim continues on, "Telling me how to steal. I have a flying carpet and the turtle keeps telling me I can't go out a window. I've been doing this longer than he's been alive."

Sly would like to input that Salim could not know their ages but wisely doesn't, while Bentley counts backwards from ten next to him. If nothing else, he is learning when not to bother her and the ancestors while they bond.

"My ex-boyfriend, the _Thievious Moronus_, always underestimated just what I could do. That's how I wound up here, out of time, away from home, depending on them to bring me back," Carmelita angrily points at both Bentley and Sly while Salim gently pats her shoulder.

Sly would like to protest the ex-boyfriend part, along with other aspects of that statement, but he still has a queasy feeling in his stomach, remembering Paris and how flattened Carmelita's ears had become and the slight quiver of her lip when she thought him out of sight. He's going to give her this one.

_"That was an awkward day for all of us."_

_"Speak for yourself, Cooper, I meant every word."_

_"Thievious Moronus was pretty clever."_

_"Raise your hand if you don't appreciate this mocking of me...thank you Murray!"_

Salim starts tossing a small golden 'genie' lamp back and forth between his hands and lobs another complaint at Sly's feet. Bentley finally takes out his laptop and headphones for both him and Sly but Sly has good graces to get back into and doesn't actually use them once they're on his head.

"Is residing with him that awful?" It's obvious neither one of them realizes he can hear them. _Yes_.

"It hadn't been. I was happy until this fiasco started; well, impatiently happy."

At Salim's prompting look, Carmelita continues, but not before a quick glance to make sure her Cooper was distracted and not listening, "He's always been odd, but I thought he'd gotten worse because," and she breaks off for a brief second before she rolls her shoulders and is made of steel and fire once more, "...because he was waiting to ask me to marry him. I saw the ring a month ago. Honestly, I was so ready I was about to propose myself. If he became Sly Fox instead of me Carmelita Cooper, my father might not roll over in his grave..."

Sly tunes out as Carmelita explains the cultural references she had mentioned. The ring. He'd gotten it two months ago, when the urge to start stealing again had flared up briefly before fading way as soon as he saw the sparkling sapphires surrounding a diamond probably too large for her to actually like. His girl, tamer of a master thief and crack shot extraordinaire. His reason for dropping off the earth, for using the jagged edges of his memory to separate himself from the only family he knew.

Sly had assumed she had never knew that ring existed, tucked into a hollowed out version of a book she hated.

And it was not as if she'd stopped being enough, just that he was born for something else besides just attending art galleries to look instead of plot. Maybe if he'd told her the truth, she'd be home, waiting for him, shiny ring on her finger and safely tucked away from time travel paradoxes.

Sly is shaken from his thoughts at the sound of Carmelita's raised voice, ears back, and a snarl on her face. He immediately starts to move to her side, but a raised hand from Salim stops him. So instead he listens, and what comes out of her mouth amazes him, words of defense for both him and the gang. With a final glower, Carmelita stalks off, ignoring Sly gaping at her as she passes by. He turns to look at Salim, who, instead of being cowed or repentant, smiles.

"I pushed her too far, it seems."

Sly is instantly suspicious, "Was that a test?"

"Of course not, why would I test someone who loathes you as much as she does?"

"She does not!" She loathes time travel Sly; it's different.

"Really?"

Sly sighs and decides this isn't the battle he wants to fight; instead, he hunts down Carmelita, whose thrown herself into a comfortable set of pillows and is cleaning her shock pistol.

He's tired and just wants to go home and pretend he actually is Constable Cooper, with the high success rate and the greatest cop in Interpol watching his back. But he can't, so all he does is press his luck, dropping a quick kiss into blue curls, before curling up on an adjacent pillow to nap.

Carmelita lets him, and later on, if she's almost as gentle waking him up as she is back home, Sly doesn't comment on it.

It isn't until they're about to hop in the van yet again that she defrosts, slightly, towards Salim, who pulls her in for a hug and whispers something in her ear that has him flash a grin and punch him in the shoulder.

_"What did he say?"_

_"That you were lost without me and it'd be for the betterment of all involved if I was there to keep you in line. And make sure your own retirement could be ruined by time traveling future Coopers."_

* * *

**Slaigh MacCooper  
**

_"Are you going to be able to tell the story the right way, Sly?"_

_"I've been doing fine so far, Bentley."_

_"No you haven't."_

_"Yes I have."_

_"Really? What you just said counts as fine?"_

_"I can separate myself from what I'm talking about. I just choose not to."_

_"Well choose to this time."_

_"While I maintain my style of telling the stories in a biased, as if I was still there fashion, is better, I'll just have to prove to you just how superior my way is by example."_

_"Whatever. Just get on with it. And let's try to avoid the present tense, make this a real story."**  
**_

As much as Bentley complained about Salim, his faults could at least be semi-connected to Carmelita. Slaigh was a different story altogether.**  
**

The whole silence between his more bloodthirsty half and certain ancestors was not planned, actually. And honestly, if Sly had the choice of keeping her separated from one ancestor, he wouldn't have picked Slaigh. Not by a long shot, not when he was happily taken and had no interest in anything but how forcefully the task at hand could be done and what would be destroyed in the process.

He'd have most likely appreciated Carmelita for her lack of subtlety, just as he had Murray, but alas (_"Who uses alas anymore, Ringtail?"_) it was not to be.

Bad luck and signs of a concussion were to blame, with the van seemingly getting revenge for years of bullets bouncing off the bumper by dropping something electronic and heavy onto her head during the time-trip to 15th century. Sly still wasn't entirely sure what the piece was, only that it barely avoided vengeful retribution due to Bentley practically falling out of his wheelchair to protect the technology. He didn't want to know after that.

Still, it took a few minutes to rouse Carmelita, and even Bentley wasn't willing to risk her health (_"You losing your mind in the field because you're worried and leaving Murray and I to die in a foreign land!"_) so into the safe house she was ushered, only to be put under medical watch, swearing at Bentley the entire time. Murray did not suffer a similar fate, even though it was his van.

As for Sly, he had picked up a tendency to hover when she was ill outside of the field, sulking in their Paris apartment, and had only become worse once it dawned on him how far away proper medial supplies were. And so he did what he did best by getting ready to camp out with the Fox, quip at the ready and a gleam in his eye.

A gleam she noticed, which, effectively, had her threatening Sly within an inch of his life to stop babying her and do his damn job because:

**A**-She was still furious over the reveal of his faked memory loss and considered herself his ex in all ways the term applied to.

**B**-She was a grown woman and could take care of herself.

and** C**-She would be fine and protected in and out of the immediate area so she could be left alone so he could get aforementioned jobs done.

"No, seriously, Cooper, this is my shock pistol. Remember him? He was gone for the majority of our relationship and has been eagerly waiting for this reunion."

He left her alone after that.

The guards did not take such a similar vow, however, and managed to flank the hideout, hastily chosen due to proximity to the task at hand house. Everyone but Carmelita had been out in the field, and while they, led by a panicked Sly (_"I did not nearly pass out, Bentley!"_), rushed to the location, it had been too late.

Three of the four walls had been utterly destroyed, large gaping holes or collapsed altogether. At least a dozen guards, most burly and arguably twice the size of Carmelita, were in pitiful states on the floor. At the center of all the destruction was Carmelita, cheerfully polishing her shock pistol and whistling. Only his girl. Near her feet lay what Sly knew to be the head guard; every time he twitched, Carmelita's boot went out to kick him in the side. Eventually, he stopped moving, only for a guard behind them both to climb back up to his feet, sword clutched in his hand. While the rest of the gang called out to warn Carmelita, Sly began running to her, only to stop short as she dodged the sword, kicked the legs out from underneath the guard, and caught his weapon midair, using it to stab him and bring him down for the count.

_Sly to this very day doesn't know which one of them clapped. He suspects Slaigh._

While Murray went to check on the van, Carmelita eventually waved the sword too close to Sly, sending him away with a flat look and a shooing gesture to Bentley and his ancestor, standing far away in their own pile of rubble.

"Subtle as nuclear warfare," Bentley muttered mournfully, and then went on to ignore Sly while trying to explain just how horrific nuclear warfare, aka he and Carmelita, actually were to Slaigh, who, to his credit, stopped following midway through, instead contemplatively staring at both Sly and what little flashes of Carmelita could be seen around the bodies and remaining wall.

"Marry her," he said, with an eager, supportive grin.

Sly gaped at him while Bentley snorted at his expression, going on to tell Slaigh just why that would not be happening, ever, chief among them the desire not to rot away in jail because his best friend was an idiot.

In the end though, the time stream gets fixed in Scotland at last, and Sly says a final farewell to his ancestor of incredible strength. Just as he turned away, Slaigh pulled him back, and, with a judgmental look, told Sly yet again, "Marry her."

Sly hopped back in the van and decided to ignore the fact his ancestor was matchmaking him with his ex-girlfriend based solely on her ability to maim people. _(This idea to ignore had nothing to do with what had transpired between Carmelita and his previous ancestor.)_

_"Who was his previous ancestor?"  
_

_"Sly is ignoring the fact he exists, Penelope, because he is a jealous fool."  
_

_"Hypocrite."  
_

_"Sly, tell her about Sir Galleth."  
_

_"No."  
_

_"Cooper..."  
_

_"Fine, but if I have to, I'm doing it my way."  
_

* * *

**Sir Galleth**

Sir Galleth is the worst, most useless ancestor Sly has had to encounter, by far. And no, the fact that all of his previous relatives were amazing does not mean that Sir Galleth has a lot to compare to. It just means he's the weak link in the family chain.

_"Wow, this won't get old real fast."_

_"I'm in the middle of a story, Bentley, don't be rude."_

Sly had a nagging, weary feeling as soon as he saw Sir Galleth, miserable in the circus tent. While Sly doesn't hold having to rescued him against Galleth, he could have at least insulted the guards like Rioichi did. **  
**

His armor also made it impossible to properly sneak around in the field with him, and he ignored Bentley's orders like a pro fool.

_"HYPOCRITE!"_

Sly is never happier when he gets to put the Sir Galleth adventure behind him and move on to Henriette.

_"That's it?"_

_"Penelope, the guy was awful. Be glad you missed him."_

_"Uh, Sly, I thought you hated him because of how he had the hots for Carmelita."_

_"Murray, I could never hate someone for that. I just resent the dishonor on the Cooper name."_

_"I'm done. I am so done with you and your story time you no good, lying, jealous raccoon."_

_"What really happened, guys?"_

_"Long story short, and Sly do not interrupt me, Sir Galleth fell for Carmelita, got along with Sly like oil and water, and decided that, if he couldn't win Carmelita over, that she should at least stay with someone who looks like him, specifically Sly."_

_"Worst. Ancestor. Ever."_

* * *

_**Thaddeus Winslow Cooper III**_

Because Sly is not normally a 'jealous idiot', his behavior is back to normal by the time they wind up in Victorian England, home of Thaddeus Windlow Cooper III. While Carmelita had always appreciated the gentlemanly aspect to Sly, Thaddeus takes it to an entirely higher plane, constantly opening doors and refusing to say a bad word. A self-sufficient, 'out of my way so I can do this better than you Cooper' woman like Carmelita has problems with that. So life is good and nonthreatening for Sly.

Besides, Sly knows Carmelita remembers being tricked by a disguise resembling Thaddeus when he stole the chocolate. And Thaddeus, because he is a gentlemen and a fantastic relative/upstanding man, would never betray the trust of a future Cooper by being untoward to his significant other.

Very upstanding man. One who also appreciated Carmelita for being a cop, like him.

_"Wait, he'd have been in the Theivious Raccoonus. How was he a cop?"_

_"Because he was just that cool!"_

_"He'd have liked to have heard the vote of confidence Murray."_

Thaddeus, by the time they've dropped in on him, was well into his associating with Scotland Yard, helping them catch their most vile criminals and teaching a few basic disguise tricks to the undercover officers.

"It's a gentleman's duty, after all, to help those in need. Especially the officers protecting the innocent."

"Seriously, this is the relative you didn't take after?"

Thaddeus, who had been initially delighted hearing about Sly and Carmelita's working relationship, spends the majority of the missions sending disappointed looks Sly's way for his inability to both treat Carmelita and his work with the proper respect.

Sly, because he knows how badly he messed up, without help, does not let it bother him as much as Bentley thinks it does. Carmelita, to her own credit, does not allow herself to lord this over Sly's head.

Still, it does them both good to see that one Cooper, somewhere in time, managed to balance a fantastic relationship with the law.

Sly has hope yet that he can patch things up with Carm, making her a Cooper in her own right. _  
_

Thanks, Thaddeus.

* * *

**Henriette "One Eye" Cooper  
**

Henriette is his favorite, and not just because his own pirate days showed just how much he took after her, but because she actually appreciates all of them and what they need to do. Even Bentley didn't know what to do with the fact they found an ancestor that had yet to be kidnapped and didn't disdain them, yet, at least.

Sly wishes he could spend more time with her and learn to smell gold like she apparently can, but when he brings this up, she gives a look that more or less screams, "I'm questioning your sanity and why I'm talking to you, but I'm too good a person to say that to your face."

_"Please tell me you did not mess up the time stream even more by commenting on talents she may not have had yet."_

_"Relax, Bentley, she had it."_

_"Did she really?"_

_"I could sense it."_

_"Ugh. I hope the kids take after your wife."_

_"Was that a compliment to Carmelita or an insult to me?"_

_"Hey guys, let's go back to talking about Pirate Cooper Girl, okay?"_

_"Good idea, Big Guy."_

She shows them her pirate ship, makes sure her crew is ready to accommodate or help them whatever it takes, and is probably the only Cooper that doesn't glower at Bentley when he seems to overstep his bounds. Murray likes her too, and she spends half an afternoon with Murray, teaching him how to properly overthrow enemies overboard instead of just tossing them aside._  
_

_"That was awesome."  
_

There is one slight problem though; Carmelita's law background did little to endear her to Henriette, and it seemed to spook her crew too. Henriette even corners Sly after a mission to ask whether or not he thought them safe with her around. His reply of him being the only one in immediate danger does little to sooth her until he adds, proudly, that they are on a temporary break from their relationship._  
_

_"A temporary break!"  
_

_"Gah! Put the weapon down."  
_

_"Not again!"  
_

Things seemed to change soon after, with Henriette keeping a different type of difference away from Carmelita. It sounds sadder than it actually is that Sly is extremely excited to find a relative not involving herself with his relationship_, esp_ecially when she doesn't automatically side with Carm.

Then Carmelita and Henriette get kidnapped. Together. _  
_

Sly loses it and nearly gets himself killed before Murray and Bentley get him back to his senses and back to the Safe House to both plan and prevent Henriette's own pirate crew from attempting and failing to get her back. Sly is not allowed to lead by example for a reason.

Less than an hour later, as they're rallying the troops and about to send Sly off for "Recon only, dear God, someone is going with you," Henriette and Carmelita return, with Henriette's left ear slightly singed, and Carmelita favoring her right side and with her arm thrown over the female Cooper's shoulders.

Sly has never seen such a wonderful sight, and proceeds to tell Carmelita so, as soon as he extracts her from Henriette. Immediately after, a gold coin is thrown into the air and lands in the Carmelita's palm.

"Even I didn't think he'd use this as a chance to flirt with you," Henriette calls out to them, before she is swarmed by her own loyal band.

_"You know me well."_

_"Master thief and fake amnesia aside, you are predictable in a lot of ways, Cooper."_

_"You bet on him?"_

_"And won."_

The rest of the trip is spend with Carmelita and Henriette getting along famously, occasionally laughing at Sly's expense when they aren't busy saving themselves and everyone else around.

Right as they're about to leave, Henriette taps him in the shoulder and tells him, "You picked good, Baby Cooper. Nice."

_"Did she really call you Baby Cooper?"_

_"Yes she did Murray, yes she did."_

_"It was one of the kinder nicknames, if we're being honest."_

_"Thanks for pointing that out Bentley."_

* * *

**Connor Cooper/ Conclusion**_  
_

_"Ran into my dad too, that was great."  
_

_"Sly..."  
_

_"It's fine guys. It's a part of the story."_

Actually, it isn't fine, not at all, because five feet away, on an adjacent rooftop in Paris, is his father, proud and strong and alive. Bentley and Murray keep shooting him cautious, worried looks, and Carmelita, who has never heard the story from him (hello amnesia) hovers nearby, ready to spring into action.

This is his family.

His dad (and how weird is that?) doesn't seem to mind his odd collection of friends, merely smiles and references his own odd gang, and Sly finds it so incredibly unfair that he cannot warn him against M or tell him McSweeny felt so guilt-ridden that he retired from crime to settle into a jail cell, only caring about the Cooper family and whatever help Sly needed.

He even seems to like Carmelita, despite the fact she's a cop. Hell, Connor ("The Romantic Fool you got it from"-thanks for the compliment Dr. M) thinks them sweet and even touching for blurring the lines the way they have, makes easy jokes about needing to have twins, one for each profession, and a joke about meeting the parents that has Sly sick.

_Sly of the present blinks images away, snippets of conversation, hugging his father as an adult for the first and only time, saving the family history yet again._

_"I think I can figure this part out for myself. Bentley, Murray, wanna go for a stroll? I need to stretch."_

_"Good idea, come on Murray."_

_"Later guys."_

_And so story time comes to a sudden end, leaving Carmelita and Sly alone in a room filled with technology he's almost afraid to touch. She has no such qualms, kicking a box to make a seat for herself, by his side. _

_She presses a kiss to his cheek and rests her head on his shoulder, just like she did when he said goodbye to his dad, for the last time. _

_"I'm not upset about this, you know that, right?"_

_"I do."_

_"I'm glad. I got the chance to see him again, and hear mom's voice."_

_"Tell me about them," Carmelita requests, intertwining a paw with his, one with a ring with a diamond whose size allows her to see rainbows placed snugly on her finger._

_And so he does._

* * *

My baby is done! I still have issues with the ending, but honestly, I'm trying to not let it bother me. Some more notes about what you just read (yes, yes, I know, ClampLover, shut up and let them go).

_SPOILERS/REASONS  
_

_1. **CANON:** I tried to keep this as canon as possible, but that is difficult because of the obvious reason of the game not being out. Slaigh's chapter was originally Rioichi's, but Carmelita never meets him (but I adore Rioichi too much to have him cut completely. Sir Galleth also does have a crush on Carmelita (and I think its hysterical, even though Sly doesn't.) This is not me bashing the character, because I am excited to play as him, but Sly is not going to be a kind narrator. Carmelita also does find out about the whole fake amnesia issue and joins up with the gang, eventually. Her first ancestor met will most likely be Tennessee. The pictures and key chain mementos from Rioichi are canon in the game as well, and he makes reference to a cage because he must be rescued from one. Depending on when Carmelita shows up, she might actually know TK longer than Sly. Salim is actually getting ready to retire and is not happy to see the gang. And Sir Galleth is held captive till Sly arrives, and does not give his captor hell like Rioichi does.  
_

_2. **PENELOPE: **Part of the reason Bentley approaches Sly for the time-travel mission is that Penelope mysteriously disappeared as a result of their experiments, but I'm assuming they'll have a happy reunion, despite other spoilers hinting at maybe strife. I set the story up as the gang telling her what she missed for this reason. _

_3.** ANCESTORS:** Many of the above relatives have been confirmed for the game. Ones who haven't been were put in because I felt like it. Thaddeus was added as a super quick bonus-I had finished and was ready to publish until I had a quick idea for him. That's why he's so short. I'd have liked to have put Otto or Slyyunkhamen in, but the only senario where a switch is even possible is Slaigh (who was once rumored to be in but most likely that is just a rumor, too late for me to change) but it fits his character of caring about strength too much to actually lose him. _

_4. **SLAIGH:** Slaigh's is the odd one out, obviously. It was also the first one, written all the way in the early fall, when we found out that the game got delayed. This story was to deal with my emotions about it, but school and real life caught up with me. By the time I got back to this, about five or so days ago, I came armed with so much knowledge and a new way of writing this story that it wasn't funny. I still liked enough to include it, flawed and sticking out, but I tried to make it a seamless transition._

_5. **EDITS:** Any edits for this will be based on grammar and a slight joke edit here or there. I don't think I'll make another chapter based on the content of the game but if I ever do anything else for this, it will be a few bonus ancestors, like Otto or Slytunkhamen Cooper II._

_Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed.  
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_**Tumblr: thissupposedcrime.**  
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